The Bombastic and Sinfully Sweet Dark Souls Soundtracks

Two years ago I was suggested by a childhood friend to try and play a game that is called Dark Souls not really knowing what the game was about or how difficult that game was. Little did I know that this game, which would turn into a series, was one of the most challenging games to be released in current day video game market place. After a few attempts with the game, I finally told myself I need to actually fight through this game and beat it and after my 80 hour play through I fell in love with this game and would for the series. 

The Dark Souls series was created by Japanese based developer From Software in the October 2011 to critical acclaim, but not high sales numbers. There are a total of three Dark Souls games with the most recent one Dark Souls III releasing Tuesday April 12, 2016.Dark Souls games are action RPG games with a fantasy setting and famous for their large and interconnected worlds, very distinct controls and challenging bosses. This is a game that take patience and a calm mind. You can not just pick up the game and be the best at it you need to find your own play style. 

Throughout all three of the games in the Dark Souls series the composer Motoi Sakuraba has worked on them all. Sakuraba has worked in many different mediums including video games, anime, films and progressive rock albums as well. Most of Dark Souls music is made by orchestras and choirs. When it comes to music in Dark Souls it is only used in two parts of the game. One of the parts is when you are in the safe home base of the game and the other part is when fighting the intense and crazy bosses. I will be pulling songs from each game in the series that are my favorite and how they work for the boss.

The first song I will be talking about is the first boss in the game Dark Souls that I was stuck on for hours upon hours and that would be the "Bell Gargoyles". As you climb your way to the roof of a church you are then attack by a gargoyle and the boss fight begins. If you manage to get the gargoyle to half then another gargoyle will fly on to the roof and start to attack you as well. The music for this fight just explodes at you as soon as the fight begins you keep you on edge and ready to dodge and roll. The music has a heavy choral theme throughout the whole song playing on the church roof setting. I heard this song time and time and time again during the fight it still haunts me to this day, but I will always remember it for that reason tho and that is why it has a special place in my heart.

I will talk about one more song from the first Dark Souls game and that is played during the "Great Grey Wolf Sif" boss fight. In this fight you fight a giant grey wolf that wields a sword in it mouth to attack. The fight is mandatory in the game to obtain a ring that you need later which makes the fight that much more of an emotional fight because throughout the fight the more you hit Sif the more the wolf starts to limp and show his pain. The music of the fight completely fits this haunting idea of fighting a wolf that can show the fact that it is injured and make the player feel bad for what they do. The music is slower with another choral theme that adds a haunting sound to the battle.

The next song will talk about is from the second game Dark Souls II during the boss fight "The Rotten". The Rotten is a great boss in the game that is a large pile of corpses that turns into one person that fights. This boss is very gross and is dangerous. The Rotten's theme is very creepy and mysterious with sour notes and always building and swelling string instruments. 

The last song I will be talking about is from the new Dark Souls III and so far the only boss have beaten "Iudex Gundyr." Iudex is the first boss and a test to make sure that your skills are in check to progress. Iudex is a giant stone man that fights will a long range weapon and who will transform into a monstrosity for the last 50 percent of his health. The theme is classic Dark Souls epic boss music. Sadly I killed the boss before the whole song could play so I had to listen to it on the CD later.   

Dark Souls stands out in the gaming community now because of the challenge in the game and only the brave and patience will survive until the end. All of the soundtrack are available on Youtube and able to purchase on Amazon or iTunes. Thanks for reading. 

 

April 12 Releases: Dark Souls 3 and Hyper Light Drifter Soundtrack

Tomorrow I will be picking up the third installation of the Dark Souls series, which comes with the soundtrack, and the soundtrack to the new indie game Hyper Light Drifter. Both of these games are based on the video game genre as open world exploration game. 

I will be listening to both of the soundtracks over the next few days and do a post for both of the games as I can. Both soundtrack are extremely different from each other. Dark Souls 3 soundtrack is created by a large orchestra and choir and Hyper Light Drifter's soundtrack is made by one man and I have actually done a post about one of his games already FEZ, Disasterpeace. After I saw that he was creating the soundtrack to the game, my excitement for the game extensively increased. 

Hyper Light Drifter is a 2-D based RPG game with 8 to 16 bit graphics where Dark Souls is open world RPG that is 1080p 60fps (Frames Per Second). So the only things these games have in common is the fact that they are both RPGs and that they can be extremely difficult.

Thanks again for reading and my next update will more of less be one of these games if I can pry myself away long enough from these games. 

Halo's Space Rock Opera

 As I have said in my last post about Halo's composers Martin O'Donnell and Micheal Salvatori, Halo was a FPS released in 2001 for the Original Xbox and is set in 500 year in the future during humanities space age being devastated by an alien religious cult that plans to activate an ancient device that would wipe out all life in the universe. You play a space marine John-117, also known as the Master Chief, a man in a super powered suit that can take a ridiculous amount of damage and can deal out the same, but what makes Halo stand out from other FPS games would be the scoop and setting of the game, the multiplayer aspect and the bombastic soundtrack. Obviously I will be discussing the soundtrack today because that what I do.

In my last post I also talk about the title theme to Halo with the Gregorian chant and how that became a staple in the series, but now I will talk about some of the songs that made the level perfect and songs that inspired songs in the later games in the series. Some of the songs I will be talking about is "What Once Was Lost", "Lament For Pvt. Jenkins", "Devils..Monsters", "Truth and Reconciliation", and lastly "Halo".

The one level that the music perfectly combined with atmosphere and new introduced enemies was 343 Guilty Spark. In this level you are sent out to find a marine company that went lost in the dark jungle wetlands. After being dropped off you hear the eerie song "What Once Was Lost" as you push through the jungle. As you proceed through the jungle you come across a building in which you see the zealot aliens fleeing from in terror . After you get through them you proceed into the building and find that there is no one in the building to run from. You go down some elevators and proceed through the building only to find body after body of shredded corpses of both human and alien. When you get to the bottom most of the building you find the helmet of Pvt. Jenkins and take his recording out of his helmet to see what became of his company. As you begin to watch the tape the song "Lament For Pvt. Jenkins" which is solemn until creepy, high note and erratic string instruments cut in and make your skin crawl. The tape reveals that the company was attacked by an enemy called the Flood a infections organism that can take over a hosts body and use it to spread the infection. After the tape ends, you are immediately being surrounded and attacked by the Flood and the song "Devils...Monster" starts to play. This songs distorted sound adds to the scare and fear that are rising because of the oncoming attack. This song will play as you run your way out the building to regroup with another group of marines as you reach the exist to the building. Throughout this whole level the song will change three times going from creepy to down right chaotic and evil and is a perfect example on the music evolution in this game.

The next song I will talk about is titled "Truth and Reconciliation." This is one of my favorite song on the entire soundtrack because how much the song changes in the course of its eight and a half minute play time. This song play in various levels throughout the entire game and also plays the whole song if you sit at the main menu and listen. It plays in the levels Halo, The Silent Cartographer, Two Betrayals, Truth and Reconciliation, Keyes and The Maw. The various sections of the song are used in cut scenes and action segments of the game. The main moment the song is used in driving segments and the final drive to the end. This song is my favorite because the change in the song and also how much it sprinkled around the game.

The last song I will be talking about is simply titled "Halo." This song has appeared in every Halo game since in some form. This song also has the Gregorian chant in it as well in the beginning. This song is the legacy of the Halo games and will forever exist in the series,

This album was re-worked when they re-mastered the game on its 10th anniversary with a larger orchestra and new people, but this album to me will always be a classic. If you want to sit back and watch to the album you can listen to it on YouTube or you can purchase it on Amazon or iTunes. Thanks fir reading once again and have a great one.

The Masterminds Behind One Of Gaming's Best Soundtracks: Halo

Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori

On June 11, 2001 Microsoft and Bungie released Halo; Combat Evolved of the Xbox gaming system and this release would be a change to First-Person Shooters (FPS) genre on home consoles. Halo successful was followed by many sequel games, comic books, novels, and animations. Halo's story is that you play as a space marine named Master Chief and your goal is to stop an alien religious covenant from destroying all life in the galaxy. The first Halo was a groundbreaking game for me personally because this is only one of a few games that can still remember the first time that I actually played it. Beyond the shooting Halo on other aspect caught my attention and that was the music.

The music in Halo: Combat Evolved was composed and produced by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori and they would later go on to compose Halo's next 4 games. When they started working on Halo, they wanted to make a space epic that would resonate, but at the time they didn't know the main theme they made for the game would have such an impact on the gaming community. They used a wide variety of instruments on the soundtrack. 

The main theme as I mention before is one of the first thing people think when they think about Halo. The reason this song does that is because of one music technique they used, Georgian chant. The Halo Theme is a mysterious and haunting start to a new experience that people will remember the first time they played this game. The Georgian chants after this would be a staple in the Halo soundtracks even to today where the soundtrack are no longer made by O'Donnell or Salvatori. 

Bungie in 2012 gave the Halo franchise to 343 Industries, which was created from old members of Bungie and new people in general. After the passing of the franchise O'Donnell and Salvatori decided to stay with Bungie instead of following Halo to 343 because they wanted to work on something different. Bungie would later put out Destiny and the soundtrack by O'Donnell and Salvatori would follow. After the release of Destiny O'Donnell had a falling out with Bungie and their supporters Activision and left Bungie. 

Today Martin is on the free market and I really can't wait to see what game he composes next, but his work with the Halo franchise will always have a special place in my heart.

Preview: No Man's Sky's Infinite Soundtrack

The game that has been turning head since it was announced in 2014 is the action survival game that is set in an open universe, No Man's Sky. This game is also set to release in June of 2016 on PlayStation 4. When I say open universe, I mean that the is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets to explore. That's right over 18 quintillion different planets that has there own ecosystems, climate, animals, and topography. The game designers, Hello Games, didn't individually create each planet, but created a program that produces a procedurally generated universe. The program creates a planet then puts the according plant and wildlife on the planet that would fit the ecosystem and does that 18 quintillion times. Sean Murry, Hello Games Managing Director, was quoted on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that even if a planet was discovered every minute we would all be dead before every planet would be discovered and personally that is an incredible and mind exploding thought.

The accompany and infinite universe, Hello Games hired a post-rock band named 65daysofstatic and Paul Weir. The idea behind the music in this game is 65daysofstatic would create melodies, loops, textures, and sounds and Paul Weir put these into a program that would randomly create a music to accompany the gameplay. On top of all that the music would also change in the game when approaching different terrains and whether the player is in high or low danger. The members 65daysofstatic was quoted by The Guardian saying that the idea that people could visit these planets that no one in the world has ever been to before and hear a version of the song that no one else will hear and we haven’t heard before, is so exciting.

Since the game is not released yet there are only a few samples of the music that No Man's Sky has to offer. There is a song that will be on the soundtrack that was released and 65daysofstatic played at a PlayStation Experience 2014 and gave the audience and example of what the soundtrack might sound like. So check those out if you are interested and I will update this again when the game is released. Thanks for reading and keep on jammin'. 

Banjo-Kazooie's Ever Changing Soundtrack 

It's June 29, 1998 and Rare, then Nintendo exclusive game designer, released their first 3D platform collectible hunting game for the Nintendo 64. The most comparable game that existed at the time would have been Super Mario 64. Banjo-Kazooie stars a duo of a bear named Banjo and a bird named Kazooie and their quest to free Banjo's sister, Tooty, from the evil clutches of the witch Gruntilda. Banjo and Kazooie have to hunt down puzzle pieces to create picture so they can slowly unlock the entrance to Gruntilda's castle and free his sister. Banjo-Kazooie was rated highyl by reviewers and still has a special place in gaming history, with it most recently being re-released on Xbox One of a collection of Rare games.

Banjo-Kazooie's soundtrack was revolutionary for the time because of depending on what you were doing in the level the music would change and the legend behind this idea was Grant Kirkhope. In an interview with Gamnesia, Kirkhope was quoted as saying that the developer wanted the music to be like that of the Lucas Arts Monkey Island series would the music would fade in and out depending on where you were in the game. Kirkhope started as a composer for Rare two years before did the Banjo-Kazooie music. Kirkhope has worked on such games like GoldenEye 007, Viva Pinata, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z and coming some Yooka-Laylee, a Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor. After Rare's purchase by Microsoft, he really wanted to expanded his horizons as a composer and left to be a composer for hire.

I will be talking about three song in this article and of the three, two of them have multiple versions that play a different places throughout the level. When these songs play throughout the level the only different is usually an instrument change and increased or decrease in speed. The song are "Treasure Trove Cove", "Mad Monster Masion" and "Final Battle Music." 

The level of Treasure Trove Cove is accompanied by the song of the same name. The level is beach and pirate themed and is completely surrounded by water. The music in the level is mainly island musical instruments like steel drum and bongos with xylophone, but as you travel around the area the music will change. When you enter water and start swimming the music is more subtle as if you actually dunked your head in water and listened to the music playing. As you approach a character named Capt. Blubber the music will change in the same music, but more flute and accordion than islander percussion instruments. The last evolution in the song is when approaching a giant crab named Nipper the music gets much faster and intense like most boss fights. This song and all of its variations are some of my favorite in the game.

The last level I will be talking about that has variation in it is the "Mad Monster Mansion." The song sounds just like a spooky haunted house music from Scooby-Doo complete with the organ, owl sounds and almost haunting moans. Much like Treasure Trove Cove, when you go under water in Mad Monster Mansion makes it more subtle and recreates in the water sound. The music also changed when you enter the haunted mansion, cemetery, and church. As before this is my second favorite songs.

The last song I will be talking about is the "Final Battle Music" and it doesn't have any variations. The main theme of that song is closely related to the song in the Wizard of Oz when there is the tornado. The similarities are even stronger because most of the fight Gruntilda flies around on her broom. The song also has song banjo music playing admits the epic music to signify Banjo fighting the evil.

I used to play this game all of the time when I was younger, but I sadly never 100% the game. The music was truly one of the funnest parts of the game that inspired of the intense moments that fuels the game. The soundtrack you can find on YouTube. Thanks for reading everyone and keep on jammin'.  

 

Far Cry Primal's Gritty and Natural Soundtrack

Set in the 10,000 BCE in central Europe, you control hunter Takkar of the Wenja tribe. As Takkar you must help your tribe survive in Ordos from rival tribes like the Udam and the Izila and from the animal because humans were not at the top of the food chain. The gameplay is FPS like the other games in the series, but there isn't any modern weapons in the game only weapons that can be crafted from things found in the environment like clubs, spears, bows, and rocks shaped into knives. Far Cry Primal was released by Ubisoft on February 23 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and on March 1 on PC.

The game designers of Primal really wanted the entire experience of the game to be authentic to a time so they hired composer Jason Graves to make them a soundtrack. In an interview by Ubiblog with Jason he was quoted as saying that Primal was a different experience in every way for all of the other games that he has composed for. Graves has worked on all of the Dead Space series, Tomb Raider (2013), Until Dawn and many more. 

To truly capture the feeling of the setting of the game, all of the instruments that Graves used on the soundtrack were out of materials that existed at the time period of the game. Some of the instruments that he used were bamboo, clay pots, dirt, gravel, plants, stones of various sizes, stone flutes, horns made out of horns and a special instrument called the Aztec Death Whistle. Graves wanted to make sure that none of the instruments was non-metal and natural. 

I will talking about three songs that show the variance in the music that Grave created for the game. The song are "Heart of Ordos", "Survival of the Udam", and "Wadijam Izila." 

The "Heart of Ordos" is the main theme for your Wenja village. This song doesn't have as much percussion as the other song and has some stone flute and horn sounds which adds a feeling a of comfort because it is your base of operation in the game. Graves was quoted as saying about the song that its supposed to remind the tribe the idea of ancestry and those who have passed. 

The next song, "Survival Of The Udam," is based on the tribe of the same name Udam. The Udam tribe is the game as very large fierce fighters that are painted with red war paint. The song goes along with the description of the tribe. The music is very guttural, slow and very brooding. There are also some simple male grunting sounds. The song is also very simple when I comes to the natural instruments because the tribe was stronger more than they were creative.

The last song "Wadijam Izila" is for the Izila tribe. This tribe has a strong religious like worship of the fire and sun. They cover themselves in blue paint and like to use more ranged weapons than the Udam because they are not as hulking as the Udam. The Izila tribe relies on spears, bows and there own creation of firebombs. Graves made the music in this song very fast and softer to represent the idea of these fast footed warriors and spread through the song is the use of the Aztec Death Whistle. The Death Whistle when used can create a sound that close to that of a human screaming and the instrument is shaped like a skull to add effect. Those screams add a feeling of fear into the music and that is one of the weapons that the Izila use because they can not meet straight head on in a fight. 

Primal's soundtrack truly shows that fantastic musicians and composers can create music even with the simplest of instruments and Jason Graves knocked it out of the park. I enjoyed this song even more because it came with the deluxe version of the game. This soundtrack opened my eyes into Jason's career as I discovered that he made the soundtrack to some of my favorite games. If you want to check out the soundtrack you can listen to the whole thing on YouTube or buy it on iTunes or Amazon as well. Thanks for reading everyone and keep on jammin'.